USCTA Alert

November 10, 2025

After a breakthrough yesterday, the Senate late tonight passed a bill – the Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act of 2026 – to reopen the government and provide funding to keep it operating until January 30, 2026. The vote was 60 to 40. Today’s action clears the way for the House to consider and hopefully pass the measure later this week and bring an end to the shutdown that has lasted almost 41 days and disrupted the aviation system.
 
Key Components of the Senate-Approved Measure 
 
Continuing Resolution: The stopgap measure would reopen the government and provide funding to keep it operating until January 30, 2026.
 
Minibus Appropriations: The short-term continuing resolution is paired with a package of three bipartisan spending bills that provide full fiscal year funding for: 1) the Department of Agriculture and FDA; 2) the legislative branch; 3) the Department of Veterans Affairs and military construction projects.
 
ACA Fix: Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) agreed to hold a separate vote no later than mid-December on extending expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies. However, the CR does not include a guaranteed one-year extension of the health care subsidies as Democrats demanded.
 
Federal Employee Protections: The agreement calls for rehiring federal workers that had been subject to reductions in force (RIFs) during the shutdown and includes “protections” against future RIFs.
 
Other Aviation-Related Items
 
Essential Air Service: The measure provides funding for the Essential Air Service program through the duration of the CR. Late last month, DOT announced that it had secured funding to keep the program operating until November 18.
 
Counter UAS: It extends the authorization for the counter-unmanned aerial systems program for the duration of the CR.
 
Reimbursement of Screening Services. The stop-gap measure also extends the authorization for TSA’s reimbursable screening services for the duration of the CR.
 
What’s Next?
 
The Senate-passed measure now goes back to the House, which has been in recess since September 19. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) today urged his colleagues to begin returning to Washington “right now” perhaps to build in extra time for lawmakers that could be impacted by ongoing flight reductions, which are slated to ratchet up tomorrow.
 
With the Veterans Day holiday tomorrow, we expect the House may vote on the CR on Wednesday or Thursday. Whether Speaker Johnson has the votes to pass the stopgap measure remains to be seen. He can only afford to lose two Republicans, and two Republicans voted against a previous CR that that the House passed in September.